Location, Location, Location by Valerie Burns

I’ve bought quite a few houses in my time (nine to be exact), and I’ve heard the three most important things to consider when buying a house are location, location, location. Why? Because you can easily change just about everything else about a house, but you can’t change the location. Well, not easily. So, what does buying real estate have to do with writing a cozy mystery? In my opinion, EVERYTHING. Why? Because, just like in real estate, location is a key component in a mystery, especially a cozy mystery.

The very name, “cozy mystery” conjures up different scenes for each person. For some, this might be a cabin tucked away in the mountains. Others may get a picture of a small New England town with fishing boats, diners selling lobster rolls, antique shops, and a lighthouse converted into a library. When I think cozy, I think of a quaint town with handmade furniture, an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, unique craft stores, a bakery with lots of delicious goodies in the window, and a bookstore with comfy chairs, a fireplace, and a sizeable mystery section. Cozy mysteries aren’t set in cookie cutter towns overflowing in big box stores, but lacking in personality and charm. No. A COZY mystery’s location does more than provide a geographic location to ground the reader. It sets the mood for the book and instills things in the reader’s mind that aren’t always on the page. Okay, I can feel your skepticism. How can the location or setting of a book do all of that, you ask? Let’s look at a couple of cozy mysteries.

First, let’s look at a cozy set in the South. Kate Young’s, Southern Sass and Killer Cravings, A Marygene Brown Mystery. The book’s location, on Peach Cove Island off the Georgia coast, creates a southern vibe that radiates from the pages. Without the author stating that the locals have a southern drawl, readers will hear that drawl based on the phrasing. In Debra H. Goldstein’s Sarah Blair Mysteries, which are set in Birmingham, Alabama, you know that each, ‘Bless your heart,’ is spoken with sarcasm. Why? Because, the book’s location is set in the South. If you’re from the South, you know. If you’re not. . .ask a Southerner.

Cozy mysteries set in New England like Barbara Ross’s Maine Clambake Mystery series or Shari Randall’s Lobster Shack Mysteries, create a mental picture of the place and the people. Even without a written description, readers familiar with the area, and even those who have only watched Murder, She Wrote on television, will conjure up images of the beautiful New England coast with seagulls flying overhead, fishing boats and lobster buoys bobbing in the water, and quaint shops with saltwater taffy. The locals’ dialect, their passions, and their interests practically leap off the pages when the setting is right.

Location was a key factor when I chose to set my Mystery Bookshop Mystery series in Southwestern Michigan. The series is set in the fictional town of North Harbor, Michigan. Southwestern Michigan isn’t as popular  a setting for cozy mysteries as New England. However, readers familiar with the area easily recognized specific elements of Lake Michigan’s coastline, lighthouses, and often turbulent weather. Storms, tornadoes, and lake effect snow are normal for the region, and residents know how to “hunker down” and stay safe through the harshest weather Mother Nature throws at them. In the eighth book in the series, a storm comes through and damages the local library. Samantha Washington’s bookstore doesn’t sustain any damage, and she offers to host one of the library’s book clubs. That’s when her troubles begin. I would argue that the plotline in Bookclubbed to Death works because of the book’s location. Just as a hurricane could work as a great starting point for a book set in New Orleans, or an earthquake in California. Why? Because location really does matter.

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About the Author

Valerie (V. M.) Burns is an Agatha, Anthony, and Edgar Award-finalist. She is the author of the Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, RJ Franklin, and Baker Street Mystery series. Valerie is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Crime Writers of Color. She is also an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. Born and raised in northwestern Indiana, Valerie now lives in Northern Georgia with her two poodles. Connect with Valerie at vmburns.com.

 

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Bookclubbed to Death

 by V. M. Burns

When the bookshop she owns becomes a crime scene, mystery writer Samantha Washington discovers there is such a thing as bad publicity . . .
 
After the local library in North Harbor, Michigan, is flooded in a storm, Sam offers her bookstore as a new venue for the Mystery Mavens Book Club. Unfortunately, she immediately runs afoul of the club leader, Delia Marshall, a book reviewer who can make or break careers—something Sam can ill afford with her debut historical mystery soon to be published.
 
But the next morning, Sam opens her shop to find the unpleasant woman dead on the floor, bashed with a heavy—apparently lethal—tome: the Complete Works of Agatha Christie. While Sam is busy writing her latest British historical mystery in which the queen mother is suspected in the murder of a London Times correspondent, a pair of ambitious cops suspect Sam of the real-life crime. When she gathers Nano Jo and their friends from the Shady Acres Retirement Village to review the case, they discover every one of the Mavens had a motive. With her novel about to hit the stores, Sam must find out who clubbed Delia before a judge throws the book at her . . .

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READER CONTRACTS by V. M. Burns

The first time I heard about the author’s contract with their reader was when I was working on my MFA at Seton Hill University. It was a new idea, but it was a concept that resonated with me. What contract you ask? Rather than a physical contract signed by two parties, the author contract is a commitment to meet readers’ expectations. Want to know more? Well, read on.

The author/reader contract is best described as a commitment between authors and readers of genre fiction to deliver what’s promised. In essence, authors are committing to adhere to the basics of the genre. If a book is a romance, then the reader has every reason to expect that there will be some kind of romantic elements. If the book is fantasy, then the reader is expecting magic elements. If the book is crime fiction, then…guess what? There should be a crime. Sounds simple, right? Things get complicated when there isn’t a clear definition of what genre or subgenre the book falls into and what the “rules” are for it.

I write cozy mysteries. Cozies are a subgenre of crime fiction. The basic elements that most people agree on (most of the time) are that cozies almost always feature an amateur sleuth—usually female. There’s no graphic violence or explicit sex, and no bad words (well, not many). Most cozies happen in a small town or close-knit community, and they tend to focus more on whodunit than on how it was done.

In a cozy, you will not get all the gory details about a murder. In fact, the actual murder almost always happens off screen (e.g., Jessica Fletcher stumbles across a dead body). For that reason, cozies are often considered “clean mysteries.” Those are the basics that MOST people agree on, but there are a lot of elements that people don’t agree on. Cozies are often humorous and lighthearted and often include themes, such as crafts, cooking, pets, or hobbies. If you go to a bookstore or Google cozy mystery, you’ll see covers that include cats, dogs, birds, knitting, quilting, and a plethora of culinary or food related themes.

So, what’s the contract that the cozy mystery author is making to the reader? In short, a cozy author is committing to deliver a mystery without explicit sex, graphic violence, or bad words (not many). Readers should be able to go to the cozy mystery shelf and pick up any book and know exactly what they’re going to get. And just like every other contract, the agreement between the author and the reader is a two-way street. That means the reader has a responsibility, too. Choosing a cozy means the reader is agreeing to “suspend disbelief” and accept that a small town baker/bookshop owner/librarian/quilter can outsmart trained law enforcement personnel and solve crimes, that an amateur sleuth can run a business, and still manage to track down a killer, and that sometimes animals really can talk.

 

While visiting the land of Miss Marple and Sherlock Holmes, bookstore owner and amateur sleuth
Samantha Washington finds herself on a tragical mystery tour . . .

Sam joins Nana Jo and her Shady Acres Retirement Village friends Irma, Dorothy, and Ruby Mae on a weeklong trip to London, England, to experience the Peabody Mystery Lovers Tour. The chance to see the sights and walk the streets that inspired Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle is a dream come true for Sam—and a perfect way to celebrate her new publishing contract as a mystery author.

But between visits to Jack the Ripper’s Whitechapel district and 221B Baker Street, Major Horace Peabody is found dead, supposedly of natural causes. Despite his employer’s unfortunate demise, the tour guide insists on keeping calm and carrying on—until another tourist on their trip also dies under mysterious circumstances. Now it’s up to Sam and the Shady Acres ladies to mix and mingle among their fellow mystery lovers, find a motive, and turn up a murderer . . .

Buy Links: Amazon, Apple, BAM, Bookshop.org, Google Play, Hudson, IndieBound, Kobo, Nook

About the author

V.M. (Valerie) Burns was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Dog Writers Association of America, Thriller Writers International, and Sisters in Crime. V.M. Burns is the author of the Dog Club Mystery series, the RJ Franklin Mystery series, and the Agatha Award nominated author of Mystery Bookshop Mystery series. Valerie is a mentor in the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program for writing popular fiction at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA, where she earned her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree. She currently resides in East Tennessee with her two poodles. Readers can keep up with new releases by following her on social media.

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/v-m-burns

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmburnsbooks/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vmburnsbooks/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vmburns

Website: vmburns.com

An Interview with V. M. Burns By E. B. Davis

 

I wasn’t sure which was worse, thinking about going to 

prison or planning a wedding.

V. M. Burns, Bookclubbed to Death, Kindle Loc.1508

 

When the bookshop she owns becomes a crime scene, mystery writer Samantha Washington discovers there is such a thing as bad publicity . . .
 
After the local library in North Harbor, Michigan, is flooded in a storm, Sam offers her bookstore as a new venue for the Mystery Mavens Book Club. Unfortunately, she immediately runs afoul of the club leader, Delia Marshall, a book reviewer who can make or break careers—something Sam can ill afford with her debut historical mystery soon to be published.
 
But the next morning, Sam opens her shop to find the unpleasant woman dead on the floor, bashed with a heavy—apparently lethal—tome: the Complete Works of Agatha Christie. While Sam is busy writing her latest British historical mystery in which the queen mother is suspected in the murder of a London Times correspondent, a pair of ambitious cops suspect Sam of the real-life crime. When she gathers Nana Jo and their friends from the Shady Acres Retirement Village to review the case, they discover every one of the Mavens had a motive. With her novel about to hit the stores, Sam must find out who clubbed Delia before a judge throws the book at her . . .

Amazon.com

 

Bookclubbed to Death is V. M. Burns eighth book in the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series. Check out Amazon to find the first in the series, The Plot is Murder, free with Kindle Unlimited. The second and third books are on sale at .99 cents each. This is an easy way to get a leg up on the series and get some great reads for very little money. Once you start reading about main character Samantha, her grandmother, Nana Jo, her poodles, Oreo and Snickers, and the Shady Acres gang, friends of her grandmother, you be glad there are eight books to read in this series. I’ll be awaiting the next release.

 

Everyone has secrets, but some secrets are more incriminating than others and lucrative. Delia Marshall is a scam artist and a blackmailer, as Samantha eventually learns. When Sam finds Delia’s body, the police finger her as their as their best suspect, but they don’t trouble themselves by doing their jobs so Sam and the gang have to do it for them.

 

Please stop in and congratulate WWK blogger V. M. (Valerie) Burns on this release.                                                                                                                                   E. B. Davis

A storm with a tornado watch shakes Sam’s poodles. Nana Jo rubs CBD oil into their muzzles. Does it work? Have you tried CBD oil on your dogs? It doesn’t have to be ingested?

I have used CBD oil for my dogs and found that it works great, especially during the Independence Day fireworks. I have always used a dropper and put the oil under my dog’s tongue. However, it can also be rubbed on the skin. I believe there are also plug-ins, too.

 

If South Harbor is a thriving community with plenty of tourists, why did Sam open her bookstore in North Harbor?

The two towns are side-by-side and share the same Lake Michigan coastline. However, they are like night and day in other respects. Years ago, North Harbor was an upper-class area with large Victorian homes. South Harbor had small bungalows and was where the working-class citizens lived. After the civil rights riots in the 60s and the manufacturing exodus to the South and abroad, North Harbor became the economically depressed area that it is, today. However, residents haven’t given up on the town and hope to turn it around. Sam and her late husband Leon were part of that crowd. They wanted to see North Harbor’s economy revitalized. That’s why they dreamed of owning a business downtown North Harbor. That is the reason that Sam chose to open her bookstore in North Harbor.

 

When the library gets flooded by the storm, even after being warned by her sister Jenna, Sam asks if she can help. Librarian Charlotte Simmons pushes Sam to host a bookclub at her store. I got two very different impressions of librarian Charlotte Simmons. This first glimpse has her besting Sam, but later in the book, she allows Sam to read information about the victim—helping the investigation. Did I get the wrong first impression of Charlotte, or is it a case of one hand washing the other?

Charlotte Simmons isn’t trying to “best” Sam. She isn’t deliberately manipulative at all. She is one of those people to whom it is virtually impossible to say NO to (probably because she is so nice). Sam wants to help the library, and hosting a book club seems like a small price to pay. I don’t think anyone would have imagined how things would turn out. After hearing all that Sam went through, Charlotte feels bad because hosting the book club was her idea, and she wants to help.

 

When Delia Marshall, the victim, demands lunch, cocktails, coffee, and dessert for the book club, not only was I surprised that Sam capitulated, but also that Nana Jo suggested getting Sam’s fiancé Frank to cater it. I thought we’d hear them slam the door on Delia’s behind. Why did they collapse to the pressure?

Delia Marshall is demanding, but as a book reviewer, she wields a lot of power. As Sam’s first book is about to be released, she doesn’t want to antagonize anyone, especially a book reviewer. Frank loves to cook, so agreeing to the food seemed like a small price to pay. After Sam’s book was released, I’m sure Delia Marshall would have been shown the door.

 

Why doesn’t Nana Jo trust Alexa? Why does she call Alexa, She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?

LOL – Nana Jo doesn’t trust Alexa because she fears that she (and others) are listening to her conversations. My sister and I tested this by talking about something unusual (like diapers). The next thing you know, all of the ads we saw on our phone and social media were about diapers. Coincidence? Hmm. I think, not.

 

What is an Echo Show (sorry, I’m like Nana Jo!)?

An Echo Show is an Amazon device with a screen. It can play music, shop, watch videos, play games, pull up recipes, provide cleaning tips and a host of other things. However, the main attraction for Nana Jo, Sam et. al, is that it allows you to call and video chat with anyone else who has one. So, if Grace and Harold have one in Australia and Sam and Nana Jo have them in North Harbor, they can all see each other and there are no long-distance phone charges.

 

Do you think our emails, texts, and phone calls are monitored?

YEP! 😊 Don’t you?

 

Sam goes to church on Sundays. Is her faith important to her? Why do you think church attendance is declining?

Sam does go to church on Sundays. Initially, it was something she did with her mom. I think she finds comfort in her faith and the hope that she feels from belief that there is a wonderful paradise that exists beyond the challenges of day-to-day life.

 

I’m sure there are hundreds of factors that may contribute to church attendance declines. My best guess for the decline is that people may be disillusioned by institutionalized religion. However, I’ve learned through the pandemic that a lack of attendance at a building doesn’t always equate to a lack of faith.

 

Why would Martha Cheswick and Evelyn Randolph stay in the bookclub after Delia trashed their book?

Delia Marshall is still an influential book reviewer, so they wouldn’t want to completely close that door. However, I think they may have had an ulterior motive for staying close to Delia.

 

What is BAFTA all about?

BAFTA is the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. It is a charitable organization that supports and develops the arts of film, television, and video games in the UK. Winning a BAFTA is very prestigious and on the same level as winning an Oscar.

 

Sam has a problem with her four-years-older sister, Jenna. Jenna is a lawyer with a successful marriage, two wonderful twenty-something sons, and a big old renovated house. What’s not to like?

HA! Do you have an older sister? Just kidding. As a person with a sister (4 years older), I suspect Sam’s issues are related to the fact that sometimes, older sisters can be bossy, and opinionated, and may feel that they know it all. Perhaps, Sam may have spent her entire life in her older (successful, happily married, great mom, wonderful life) sister’s shadow and might be frustrated. Of course, I’m only speculating, but I suspect that might be Sam’s issue. However, despite their occasional challenges, Sam loves her sister.

 

Even the police operator knew about Delia Marshall, so why didn’t the detectives find out about her?

North Harbor is based on a real town in Southwestern Michigan. So, I used the same setup for the 911 dispatchers. In the county in SW Michigan where my series is based, the people answering the 911 calls are not sworn police officers. They are highly trained, Certified Emergency Medical Dispatchers, Emergency Fire Dispatchers, and Emergency Police Dispatchers. A 911 dispatcher may receive calls involving Delia Marshall that don’t involve the police. The detectives working on a homicide wouldn’t hear about things unrelated to homicide or other crimes that they’re working on.

 

How did Sam get Detective Pitt to join her sleuths?

Over the course of the series, Sam has had many run-ins with Detective Pitt and yet Sam has prevented him from making mistakes that might have been embarrassing and career-ending. While he isn’t the investigating officer this time around, he knows that Sam gets results. Detective Pitt may also feel frustrated because the other detectives don’t respect him. Helping Sam get the better of them would undoubtedly give him a great deal of satisfaction.

 

After finding out that an award-winning journalist falsified his reports for which he won the Pulitzer Prize—Sam feels disillusioned. It’s happened a lot in real world news in the past few years. Has Hollywood and ratings taken over journalism? Are “reality” shows muddying what is real?

Sam was a huge fan of an author whom she believed wrote a real account of his life. Learning that the work was fiction felt like a betrayal. Hollywood and “reality” television has a lot to answer for, but sadly they can’t take all of the credit/blame for an author claiming something is real when it’s fiction.

 

Your facts about Windsor Castle were mind blowing. I had to tell my home-building husband that it was 590,000 square feet, a thousand-years-old, has fifty-two bedrooms without counting servants’ quarters, 380 timepieces, and over 300 chimneys! What do they do with all that space these days?

Much of the castle is open to the public for tours. Plus, between the royal family, servants, guards, etc., there are over 150 people living there. It’s used for ceremonial and state visits. But, the truly magnificent part of the castle includes the Royal Archives, the Royal Photograph Collection, the Print Room, and the Royal Library. It’s an amazing piece of history and a truly remarkable facility.

 

How was the Rosetta Stone used as a key to unlock ancient symbols?

The Rosetta Stone is basically a large rock that is inscribed with a decree from 196 BC about King Ptolemy V. The stone is important because the decree was written in three languages, Demotic, hieroglyphs, and Ancient Greek. When it was discovered in 1799, no one knew how to read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, but because scholars could still read Ancient Greek, the Rosetta Stone made it possible to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs.

 

What is the All for One and One for All club?

When Nana Jo and ‘The Girls’ go to the Four Feathers Casino, at the end of the night, they share their winnings. The phrase comes from the novel, The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas. “All for one, and one for all” is a way of demonstrating that each member supports the group, and the group supports each member.

 

What is steganography and how does it work?

Steganography is the art of hiding information within another object which may be in plain sight. Secret messages can be hidden in objects that are seen and used every day without detection. Hidden messages have been added to quilts, knitting, paintings, music, books, and a host of other objects.

 

What’s next for Sam, Nana Jo, and the poodles?

As most authors know, releasing a book is just the tip of the iceberg. Now that Sam’s book is released, she must start promoting it. The 9^th book in the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series, Murder On Tour, will show what happens at one of the stops on her tour. I’ve seen the cover and I think the poodles will approve.

 

COZY DOESN’T MEAN WEAK by V. M. Burns

Cozy mysteries may not feature a tough as nails, hard-nosed, pistol wielding, foul-mouthed detective, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t still pack a punch or be impactful. If you stroll down the aisles of your favorite bookstores, you won’t have any difficulty separating the darker noir, true crime, or gritty police procedurals from the cozy mysteries. The titles and the covers are a dead giveaway. But just because cozy mystery titles are full of puns or the covers are overflowing with cuddly kittens, adorable puppies, or trays of delectable baked goods, that doesn’t mean that the books are light-weights that shy away from tough issues.

There are some dos and don’ts for cozy mysteries that contribute to the misconception that cozy equates to cream puff. Cozy mysteries almost always feature an amateur sleuth rather than a hardcore alcoholic cop like Jesse Stone or a shoot first and ask questions later, Dirty Harry. I have an active imagination and even I can’t imagine Miss Marple or Jessica Fletcher pointing a gun and shouting, “Go ahead. Make my day.” Cozy mysteries don’t have gratuitous sex (well, any sex), no graphic violence, and no swearing. Plus, it’s not uncommon that in addition to a murder that must be solved, cozies will often include a knitting pattern, a tip for decluttering your home, or a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Nevertheless, cozy mysteries can still address important issues…in their own way. I’m a big fan of Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight Mystery Series, about a widowed midwife, Sarah Brandt. Over the course of the twenty plus books in the series, Thompson sheds light on issues of class, race, sexual orientation, and police corruption at the turn of the century in New York City. Thompson doesn’t beat audiences over the head, nor does she forget that the ultimate point is the mystery. However, she does manage to enlighten while she entertains.

In my Mystery Bookshop series, my protagonist, Samantha Washington is writing a British historic cozy mystery that is set between WWI and WWII. This was an incredibly turbulent time in our history, and I’ve managed to weave in things like the kindertransport, which was an organized rescue effort that brought over 10,000 children from Nazi occupied territories to the United Kingdom prior to the outbreak of World War II. Also, despite the cute puppies on the covers of my Dog Club Mystery series, I’ve attempted to include some weightier topics. In, Sit, Stay, Slay! the soon-to-be-released fifth book in the series, I shed light on the practice of dog racing and the plight of these (thankfully) now retired greyhounds.

Mystery/Crime fiction is a segment of genre fiction which is often looked down upon as “escapist,” and not taken seriously by literary fiction enthusiast. Within the mystery genre, cozies are even further down the ladder. Nevertheless, cozies are able to broach subjects in a way that is subtle yet relatable. I’m not deluding myself to believe that cozies will have the same law changing power as books like Uncle Tom’s Cabin, but they definitely have the potential to make an impact. If honey can attract more flies than vinegar, then who knows what a great chocolate chip cookie recipe is capable of accomplishing.

Sit, Stay, Slay!

When her best friend Dixie is suspected of killing a dog show judge, Lilly must bring one sick puppy to heel . . .
 
Tennessee transplant Lilly Echosby has two great loves: dogs and mysteries. So naturally she's named her poodles Aggie, after Agatha Christie, and Rex, for Rex Stout. Now that she has two dogs to manage, it makes sense to enter Aggie in an obedience competition—especially since her instructor is Lilly's gal pal, Scarlet "Dixie" Jefferson.
 
But when one of the judges for the competition turns out to be Dixie's high school rival, the dog trainer gets hot under the collar. When the woman is found strangled, Dixie becomes the number one suspect. With the help of the other dog club members, Lilly must find the real killer—before the next judge Dixie tangles with throws the book at her . . .

Buy Link---- Amazon, Apple, Google Play, Kobo, Nook

 

About the author

V.M. (Valerie) Burns was born and raised in South Bend, Indiana. She received a Bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, a Master's degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Seton Hill University. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Dog Writers Association of America, Thriller Writers International and a lifetime member of Sisters in Crime. In addition to the RJ Franklin Mystery series, V.M. Burns is also the Agatha Award nominated author of The Plot is Murder, the first book in the Mystery Bookshop Mystery series; and the RJ Franklin Mystery series.

She currently resides East Tennessee with her two poodles. Readers can keep up with new releases by following her on social media.

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/v-m-burns

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vmburnsbooks/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vmburns

Website: vmburns.com

Food and Murder by Valerie Burns

Cozy mysteries are often themed and include everything from cleaning tips to travel advice. Culinary cozies are popular with readers for a variety of reasons. First, well, there’s food. It’s something that unites people from all different countries, cultures, and classes. Whether it’s a historic, contemporary, or paranormal cozy, one thing that the characters and the readers have in common, is that we all must eat to fuel our bodies. Cozy mysteries have taken that basic necessity to a completely new level. Through food themed mysteries, readers can experience a wide range of cultures by reading (and hopefully trying) different types of food.

When I first started reading cozy mysteries, I read a lot of Agatha Christie and other British historic mysteries. Agatha Christie never included recipes in her books, but there were definitely a lot of passages about food that were unfamiliar to me, as an American teen. Scones, clotted cream, treacle tarts, and lemon curd were common in British mysteries, but not things you would see in a typical Midwestern grocery store. Later, I stumbled across culinary cozies by Diane Mott Davidson, Laura Childs, and Joanne Fluke. These cozies by American authors contained a lot more familiar foods, although the recipes took those foods to another level. In Diane Mott Davidson’s The Last Supper, there weren’t just muffins, there were Almond, Poppy Seed Muffins. Stuffed mushrooms were elevated to Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed with Grilled Chicken, Pesto, and Sun Dried Tomatoes. Of course, Davidson’s sleuth, Goldy Schulz is a caterer. So, readers would expect a professional caterer to take fish and veggies to the next level by serving Chilean Sea Bass with Garlic, Basil, and Vegetables. These books didn’t disappoint. But, there wasn’t a lot of diversity where the characters were concerned. 

 

Traditional publishing moves at glacial speeds, however it’s finally moving into the twenty-first century by providing culinary cozy mysteries for and about people that more accurately reflect the real world. Books by marginalized authors give readers a glimpse into diverse cultures. Titles like Mango, Mambo, and Murder (Raquel Reyes), Killer Kung Pao (Vivien Chien), and Slayed by Souvlaki (Jenny Kales) are fun in keeping with the cozy tradition, but these books are serving up something different. These are food cozies with an ethnic twist. A quick glance at a few covers (including my own new cozy) further emphasize that the cozy genre is expanding. 

 

But don’t just glance at the titles and the covers. Read the books. Modern culinary cozies can provide insight into diverse cultures and fill a void. No Armenian restaurants in your area? Check out Tina Kashian’s Kebob Kitchen series. Want Chinese without the delivery fees? Try Jennifer Chow’s L.A. Night Market series. Or, curious about soul food, but not sure where to go? Try Tyora Moody's Eugeena Patterson Mystery series. Culinary cozies will whet your appetite for good food, while engaging your mind as you figure out whodunit.

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About the Author

Valerie (V. M.) Burns is an Agatha, Anthony, and Edgar Award-nominated author. She is the author of the Mystery Bookshop, Dog Club, RJ Franklin, and her new Baker Street Mystery series. Valerie is on the national board of Sisters in Crime and the Southeastern Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. She is also an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction Program at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, PA. Born and raised in northwestern Indiana, Valerie now lives in Eastern Tennessee with her two poodles. Connect with Valerie at vmburns.com.

 

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Baker Street Mystery Series

 by Valerie Burns

When Maddy Montgomery’s groom is a no-show to their livestream wedding, it’s a disaster that no amount of filtering can fix. But a surprise inheritance offers a chance to regroup and rebrand—as long as Maddy is willing to live in her late, great-aunt Octavia’s house in New Bison, Michigan, for a year, running her bakery and caring for a 250-pound English mastiff named Baby.

Maddy doesn’t bake, and her Louboutins aren’t made for walking giant dogs around Lake Michigan, but the locals are friendly and the scenery is beautiful. With help from her aunt’s loyal friends, aka the Baker Street Irregulars, Maddy feels ready to tackle any challenge, including Octavia’s award-winning cake recipes. That is, until New Bison’s mayor is fatally stabbed, and Maddy’s fingerprints are found on the knife . . .

Something strange is going on in New Bison. It seems Aunt Octavia had her suspicions, too. But Maddy’s going to need a whole lot more than a trending hashtag to save her reputation—and her life.

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